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I haven't listened to anything since, but from what I've read, it's an album of Tom Waits covers. Now people have argued that Waits doesn't "sing" either, but just knows how to use his voice in great ways. The problem is that, at least in the clip I've heard, Johansson *does* try to sing.

Ah well. As long as she stays an actress...

It is indeed a album of Tom Waits covers (and one original song). Oh well, I guess that if you dig that obscure genre its not too bad an album. And if you don't, you'll never hear it on radio (unlike Paris Hilton, Hilary Duff, etc).

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The more and more I listen to The Beatles, I've come to realize that they are the greatest band ever. I've always put Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones before them in my favorites, and that may still be so, but nothing can honestly compare to them. Their music just so emotionally affects me in any and every possible way - happy, sad, relaxed, excited - it's all evoked. Bob Dylan will always be my favorite, and IMO the greatest, solo artist, but as far as bands go, nothing can beat The Beatles.

I think it was Elmo Lewis, or Joey, that said in their entire career they never had a down moment. This is a true statement, I don't think they've ever had a bad album.

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The more and more I listen to The Beatles, I've come to realize that they are the greatest band ever. I've always put Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones before them in my favorites, and that may still be so, but nothing can honestly compare to them. Their music just so emotionally affects me in any and every possible way - happy, sad, relaxed, excited - it's all evoked. Bob Dylan will always be my favorite, and IMO the greatest, solo artist, but as far as bands go, nothing can beat The Beatles.

I think it was Elmo Lewis, or Joey, that said in their entire career they never had a down moment. This is a true statement, I don't think they've ever had a bad album.

John and Paul were geniuses. They forever changed the pop music world like Beethoven changed the art music world. Absolute genius.

Wish they had had the same ability at picking second wives...

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The more and more I listen to The Beatles, I've come to realize that they are the greatest band ever. I've always put Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones before them in my favorites, and that may still be so, but nothing can honestly compare to them. Their music just so emotionally affects me in any and every possible way - happy, sad, relaxed, excited - it's all evoked. Bob Dylan will always be my favorite, and IMO the greatest, solo artist, but as far as bands go, nothing can beat The Beatles.

I think it was Elmo Lewis, or Joey, that said in their entire career they never had a down moment. This is a true statement, I don't think they've ever had a bad album.

I don't think there's any competition: The Beatles win the title of Best Band Ever by a mile. There are plenty of other bands that did some music that was as good; there are plenty of bands that did more total good music; and there are even a few bands that did a small amount of music that was better.

But pound for pound, song for song, album for album, they have everybody else whipped . . . badly.

Now the style of song really isn't my taste as I hate rap, but it's the melody starting at 0:36 and repeated a gazillion times, that just melts my heart. This song never fails to put me in a good mood. Would make a great love theme IMO, in fact I challenge anyone to listen to this a couple of times and not be humming it for the next week.

I don't own any pop music albums or listen to it on the radio or TV

What a sad statement.

Indeed.

Even saying this as a film music fan, you're missing a lot of great songs that frequently have the same effect as a great piece of score.

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I've got a road trip with some friends coming up in about three weeks, and since I'm driving, it's my job to come up with music to listen to on the way.

So, naturally, I'm making a hair metal compilation.

This has led to a weekend spent listening to snippets from awesome bands like Ratt and Warrant and Poison and Slaughter. I quickly decided that if I was going to get a four-hour trip out of this, I was going to have to redefine my approach to include some bands that are more metal and less hair.

Therefore, I've also been listening to Iron Maiden and Guns N' Roses and Anthrax and so forth.

I was a sort of a metal head in high school, but I had not listened to a lot of this stuff in close to twenty years. Mostly, that was a good decision on my part. (Did I really take "18 and Life" by Skid Row seriously at some point in my life? Can I possibly have been that stupid? Yep. Ouch.) On the other hand, I'd forgotten that somtimes, you just want to hear two electric guitars playing in unison. When you do, there's really no substitute.

This does not excuse "Cherry Pie" by Warrant, or "Girlschool" by Britny Fox.

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I think regarding to structure classic rock music is probably the closer to Williams music than any other type of music. The way he uses the basses, the melodic parts vs. the accompaniment, the often rhapsody-like form, the use of motivs and counterpoint is all very similar to classic rock.

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My tastes are jumping around a bit at the moment. Anything from Michael Jackson (don't laugh, there are some great melodies and it's a nice nostalgia trip) to American country stuff and basically anything with a good theme.

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Ooo you're wrong! You are in the UK I believe? Well if you listen to the radio much you will hear it a lot - it's being promoted big time. After a few listens the strong melody will present itself to you. That's a promise.

As with any musical genre it can sometimes take time before the 'tune' makes sense, more so when it's not something we would not normally listen to.

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If it's "melody" you're looking for, I've been listening to Sonata Arctica for awhile, and have always found them to be great in terms of effective verse, hook, ect. A bit one-dimensional, but the genre they operate in is somewhat restrictive at times.

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That is nice. I love really pure voices. Unfortunately I cant find the song anywhere, both legal and...otherwise.

Thanks for the Sontata Arctica recommendation btw Wesker. I'd grown very attached to 'Shamandalie' - the lead is an amazing singer.

My most recent discovery was a few Rob Dougan instrumental tracks - Speed Me Towards Death and Will You Follow Me?. The former was used yesterday on Top Gear to amazing effect. Those editors have phenomenal taste.

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So listening to Zeppelin A-Z on 94.7 The Globe on Friday made me realize there are many great Zeppelin songs I don't own. I recently got a $5 reward zone certificate from Best Buy (for some odd reason, since I haven't boughten anything from them for months), and I'm thinking of going out and buying some Zeppelin CD's.

I own Early Days & Latter Days, but I want some actual albums. Does anyone have any recommendations?

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September's new song Because I Love You is very catchy. Heard it on the radio on the way home on Friday and immediately bought the jazz/acoustic version. I also like Satellites. She seems to have a gift for good melodies, as well as a good voice. An artist I'll definitely be watching out for.

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So listening to Zeppelin A-Z on 94.7 The Globe on Friday made me realize there are many great Zeppelin songs I don't own. I recently got a $5 reward zone certificate from Best Buy (for some odd reason, since I haven't boughten anything from them for months), and I'm thinking of going out and buying some Zeppelin CD's.

I own Early Days & Latter Days, but I want some actual albums. Does anyone have any recommendations?

LED ZEPPELIN IV (aka FOUR SYMBOLS) should be first on the list. Followed closely by THE HOUSES OF THE HOLY, LED ZEPPELIN III and LED ZEPPELIN. After that, they're all good, but those MUST be bought first.

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Yeah, I didn't realize they only have a handful of albums. There's a box set on Amazon for $70, and also one that was just released a couple weeks ago that includes all their albums, but that's a hefty $125.

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Charlie's list is correct, and I would put Led Zeppelin II on that must-buy list. Basically, their first five albums were their best, though Physical Grafitti had a few standouts. Led Zeppelin is a band that must be listened to as albums; I don't like the way their greatest hits compilations mix up the order of the songs. So many of their songs work best when they follow each other as intended by the original album.

Sidebar, and this is mostly for Koray: We all know that FLAC provides a clearer sound over MP3 for soundtracks, and I'd extend that to classical music, too. Do you also record your rock CDs in FLAC format, too?